On asset managers, hedge funds and ETFs

The returns generated by the traditional asset management industry do not justify the current fees charged. An "excessive" reward for the risk taken leads to the assumption of disproportionate risks and to a non-efficient allocation of resources. This situation has been become more evident with the appearance of low-cost index-tracking funds, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and robo-advisors, which are favoured in the current low-return, low-volatility and high-correlation investment climate. However, the market cannot be entirely made up of index funds with no discrimination; this would ultimately lead to a massive misallocation of capital.

In this context, the traditional asset management and hedge fund industries need to evolve and adapt to the new environment that requires more transparency, lower fees and new pay structures with more robust set ups.

This book focuses on the analytic principles of business practice and big data. Specifically, it provides an interface between the main disciplines of engineering/technology and the organizational and administrative aspects of management, serving as a complement to books in other disciplines such as economics, finance, marketing and risk analysis. The contributors present their areas of expertise, together with essential case studies that illustrate the successful application of engineering management theories in real-life examples.

Provides an interdisciplinary approach to big data, merging the perspectives of contributors from various fields of research.

Aimed at engineers, economists, and researchers who employ engineering management in the course of their work.

Earned value management (EVM) is an effective Project management approach. This method is used to manage Project of different sectors and has been revised to improve its Schedule estimates, the Earned Schedule Management and the Earned Duration Managemente and to include new components as quality, the quelity earned value management. This paper explores the EVM methodology and proposes a model to manage projects aerospace engineers based in a real case study. The inputs in the model are the planning and the monitoring of the case study, planned value, earned value and actual cost of aerospace projects.

The Assessment and Selection of Hedge Funds

The following Chapter intends to be a small guide to investing in hedge funds or a guide to take into account when trying to understand the complexities of investing in hedge funds. We aim to give a general overview of the field of alternative investments and to introduce its complexities, because investing in hedge funds is not at all a very simple task.

In this Chapter, we assess the challenges of analysing and selecting hedge funds. Alternative investment vehicles have taken an important role not only in the diversification of portfolios but also as standalone investments. Capturing the entire risk dimensions implied in hedge fund investment strategies is paramount in understanding alternative investments. We also analyse the problem of the lack of benchmarks. Should the performance of a hedge fund follow a benchmark? As absolute return vehicles, alternative investment organizations should not be benchmarked. However, investors need to compare returns with other assets in order to properly assess the cost of opportunity implied in hedge fund investing. We consider also benchmarking among peers as a new and latest strategy.

Evolución y análisis de la financiación de la PYME en España

This article analyses the evolution of the financing of small and médium-sized enterprises, paying special attention to traditional financing and other sources of alternative financing to be fostered and considered by companies. The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises as a driver of growth and employment makes them a key element in economic growth policies. This study analyses the economic context as a determining factor of their financing, chiefly the intensity of the crisis emerging with particular force from 2008 onwards, which modified the financing structures of companies and made their access to financing more complex. Various sources of financing are discussed, with a focus on bank lending, as most of the financing of these businesses comes from financial entities. Other sources of financing are also discussed in a special section on sources that have still not reached a significant weight but could become a supplementary alternative to other more traditional sources used by our business fabric (i.e., business angels, crowdfunding, etc.), allowing SMEs to access different financing alternatives with a greater future projection-sources that are being implemented with the relevant regulatory developments on a national and a European level.